Page 73 of Stand: Part One

“I’ve noticed.”

“You’ve noticed, yet you continue to ignore it like my mental health has no bearing on my physical health.”

He groaned quietly. “Do we have to argue every time we have a quiet moment together?” he snipped, his hard eyes locking with mine. “I was hoping to enjoy at least five minutes of peace before your claws came out.”

I glared down at him. “Happy wife, happy life, Darren. Haven’t you ever heard of that before?”

He sighed heavily, his eyes closing for a moment as he lay there quietly. Camaro returned with the Frisbee, but instead of dropping it within my reach, she laid on the grass several feet away, likely tired from all the chasing.

After a few silent moments, Darren rolled back onto his side, propping his elbow up to rest his head in his hand. His features softened for a moment, the ghost of a boyish grin gracing his lips. I narrowed my gaze in suspicion, bothered by how easy it was for a single sweet look from him to be so damn disarming.

The comforting illusion completely contradicted the hard and violent man I knew him to be. But that was the thing I had to always remind myself of—it was just an illusion.

“Okay, Jaden, I’ll make you a little deal,” he offered, his voice light with amusement. “I’ll give you one challenge, and if you can successfully complete it within the allotted time…” He hesitated, like the next words out of his mouth were actually painful to speak. “I’ll let you drive one of my vehicles of your choice.”

I paused in utter disbelief, my eyes swallowing up his facial expressions to see if he was actually pulling my leg or not. And then I decided he had to be.

“Yeah, right,” I retorted. “You won’t let me leave the house in the back seat of a car. You expect me to believe you’ll let me leave in the driver’s seat? Come on.”

He frowned at my dismissal. “I’m serious,” he deadpanned. “Driving is an easy non-physical activity that will allow you to leave the house without requiring you to actually be out in public.”

While he had a point, I still had a feeling he was being fictitious in some way.

I narrowed my eyes in consideration. “For how long?”

He cocked a brow. “How long what?”

My breath came out in a quick huff, blowing a stray strand of hair from my face. “How long do I get to drive? For all I know, you could be offering me only five minutes.”

His stoic gaze met mine as he considered the term. “Half hour,” he finally relented.

I shook my head. “One hour.”

Furrowing his brows, he sharpened his gaze.

“Out of the question.”

I tried not to roll my eyes. “Sorry, but fifteen minutes out and fifteen minutes back is not enough to entice me into whatever game you want me to play with you. You’ll have to do better than that.”

I then lay back and placed my folded hands at the back of my head, waiting patiently for him to cave. If he truly wanted me to play, he knew the stakes would have to be worth the high probability of me failing. I wasn’t going to play a losing game if the reward wasn’t even worth my efforts.

He sighed, and I knew I had him. “Fine, forty-five minutes. Take it or leave it.”

I rolled over with a smile, matching his position. “Okay, now where? I don’t want to drive for forty-five minutes in just a residential neighborhood.”

He smirked, shaking his head slightly as his eyes took on a playful glint. “What do you want, princess?”

I grinned. “I want freeway access.”

He huffed a laugh, rolling his eyes. “Of course, you do.”

Like I was going to waste this opportunity just to drive Miss Daisy around. I wanted to put one of those bad-boy engines to work.

“So we know your terms if you win. Now you need to hear mine,” he said, his tone playfully dangerous, a devilish twinkle in his eye. I leveled my gaze, waiting for him to lay down the nuclear bomb. The man could literally make me do anything he wanted. He didn’t have to resort to bets like this. Which meant he had something rather interesting in mind. “If I win, you have to babysit Ella alone for eight hours.”

My face immediately dropped.

“I’m sorry, what?”